Hmmm, so it turns out that "Jeff Gannon" was in a White House briefing BEFORE Talon news even existed. Just exactly how does a former male prostitute get a press credential, allowing him within 30ft of the leader of the free world, without any journalistic experience whatsoever? Anyone care to guess how many higher-ups will be outed when he finally squeals?

Meanwhile, Maureen Dowd is unceremoniously tossed:
"At first when I tried to complain about not getting my pass renewed, even though I'd been covering presidents and first ladies since 1986, no one called me back. Finally, when Mr. McClellan replaced Ari Fleischer, he said he'd renew the pass - after a new Secret Service background check that would last several months."
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/17/opinion/17dowd.html?hp

I can't help but think that had this happened under Clinton, the corporate media would have been all over it like flies on shit.

You know, NYT and all.

Ah, the White House...the happiest place on Earth.  Or, as Mr. Roark put it..."Smiles, everyone...smiles!".

When you consider the innumerable failures, lies, and manipulations of this White House, it's not surprising that something like this could happen. Can you imagine what the Christian Taliban would have said had this happened in the Clinton White House?

The lesson for today is: What's the difference between "day passes" and "hard passes"?

Published: February 15, 2005 5:25 PM ET

NEW YORK Don't expect major changes to the White House press-credentialing process any time soon.

Following a meeting today between the leadership of the White House Correspondents' Association and President Bush's press secretary, Scott McClellan, neither side seemed to be in a hurry to alter the current system, which has drawn criticism amid the recent "Jeff Gannon" scandal.

After a 30-minute sit-down with McClellan, WHCA President Ron Hutcheson said he believed the current system was fine and hesitated to have the correspondents' association play a bigger role in distributing press passes. "I'm not sure we need to do anything," Hutcheson told E&P. "I'm not comfortable in passing judgment on who is a journalist and who isn't. My overriding view is that if I am going to make a mistake, it is going to be on letting people in rather than keeping people out."

But Hutcheson said the full nine-person WHCA board will consider the matter on Feb. 28, and, if the board members want to seek changes to the process or vote to play a greater role in it, he will not stop them. "The board may feel differently than me," he added. "We will go back and tell them what are the criteria."

In addition to McClellan and Hutcheson, the meeting included WHCA vice president Mark Smith of AP Radio and Steve Scully of C-SPAN. Smith said the meeting was aimed at clarifying the current system, not discussing potential changes. "We have not taken any position on it, and [McClellan] did not ask us to do anything," Smith said. "We asked about what if any guidance we could provide in the future and he offered to listen to our ideas."

McClellan did not immediately return calls seeking comment.

The meeting followed the recent uproar over James Guckert, a former White House reporter for Talon News, who had used the name Jeff Gannon and drawn criticism for asking partisan questions. He resigned from his job last week after questions arose about why he had gained press access with a fake name and while representing a news agency with ties to the Republican Party.

Although no changes to the system were discussed at the meeting, some WHCA members had said prior to the meeting that a number of potential changes were being considered. Those included tighter restrictions on who can receive daily press passes, such as those Guckert had obtained, and a more active role by the WHCA in approving requests for credentials, which are now solely handed out by the White House Press Office.

Currently, two types of press passes are issued. The "hard pass," which allows reporters regular ongoing access to the White House, and "day passes," which must be issued each morning and are good only for one day. Hard passes are more difficult to obtain, requiring the reporter to first obtain a Capitol Hill credential, issued by a committee of congressional reporters known as the Standing Committee of Correspondents.

Day passes appear to be available to any reporter who provides his or her name, address, and social security number and the name of his or her news organization, and can pass a basic security check.

Guckert had been denied a congressional press pass last year after the Standing Committee determined that Talon News was not a legitimate news organization. But he was still able to obtain daily White House press passes by applying each day.

Smith requested the meeting with McClellan after the press secretary mentioned last week during a briefing that he would be open to discussing the process with White House reporters after the recent concerns surrounding Guckert.

"I think it is part of their role to address the matter," McClellan told E&P Monday, referring to the WHCA. "There are a lot of issues that are good to talk about with the correspondents."

But Hutcheson said the meeting ended up being mostly informational. "The idea was to find out the criteria for day passes and hard passes," he said. "We didn't ask about what is considered a legitimate news organization. We didn't press him on that because we just wanted to find out how they do it now."

Hutcheson said the group did not want to discuss changes until the entire WHCA board takes up the matter. He had said that perhaps the White House should require that anyone seeking a day pass first obtain a Capitol Hill press pass, which would allow the Standing Committee to pass judgment on a reporter's legitimacy. -end article

What scares me more that whether Clinton would have gotten reemed if this had happened under him, is that an unqualified person could get that close to the POS. This is even worse than inviting in a basketball team that had one member that was on record as being hostile to Mr. Bush. All administrations, this one and future ones, need to start paying more attention to vetting everyone that gets near the POS.

That any Tom, Dick or JAMES can get a daily press pass? I am sure the Secret Service is suppose to check out these people bro. C'mon, like they are gonna let someone that close to the president without a thorough background check. If that is the case, it is a MAJOR security risk.

Then again, the Admin does not have a real good track record on security of the nation...so maybe you are right.

Not the NYT...It is an Op-ed column within the Times where William Safire and Thomas L. Friedman, Nicholas D. Kristof also write their right wing opinions.

Sometimes I wonder if any of you NYT bashers even know where the Op-Ed column is in The Times. Maybe if you read it you'd have a different opinion.

that took place over and over, day pass after day pass. Yeah, in this post 9/11 environment, where national security is everything, nobody looked into this guy's credentials/background despite the fact that he'd be 30ft from the president.

Besides, how do you know for sure he DIDN'T have a hard pass? Consider this quote from Dana Milbank (WP):

"Well, we don't know.  I‘ve seen him with something that looked an awful lot like a permanent White House pass, with his face, name and organization on it.  Others have seen the same thing.  We don't know for sure.  But either way, it's clear that Scott Mcclellan knew that it wasn't his real name.  He had to provide his real name to get into the White House.  So, here you have the press secretary to the United States, playing along addressing this guy by his pseudo name.  So there was some degree of complicity, even if he was not granted, against White House rules, an actually hard pass."

McClellan knew. Even Ari Fleischer knew (see link) - probably why he stepped down, to cover his ass.

But not to worry - this'll get buried by the "liberal media", as usual.

1. This poser owed 21,000 in back taxes.

2. They allowed him to pose as a journalist under a FALSE name.

3. Based on what we know, he was engaging in illegal activity on the side.

4. There is evidence that he got into the White House briefing room BEFORE he became a reporter.

If this guy can pass ANY type of security check, then I guess Osama would be offered the free White House tour.

I will say it again:  If this had taken place during the Clinton administration--especially in a post 9/11 environment, the republicans would have gone ballistic. There would be stories about who was getting blown by gay, fake journalist.

Perhaps Gannon was servicing Karl Rove???

-- Modified on 2/18/2005 6:32:18 AM

I'm saying that it was a stupid mistake. Very stupid. Someone needs to have a serious ass-chewing over it.

I'm also saying that it's not the grand conspiracy you guys are hoping for.

RLTW

It's not THE grand conspiracy.
It's just one of them.

Shit, I'm not "hoping" for anything. I wish this admin would do something, anything, right. Maybe then I can go back to my conservative roots.

I'll reveal the real conpsiracy to you.
But I warn you, it's the stuff nightmares are made of...

http://www.indcjournal.com/archives/001561.php

-- Modified on 2/18/2005 8:27:02 AM

I was saying that because I know how many put down the Times because they "supposedly" are all left wingers.  It was a joke.

just how much access he gave to members of the Red Chinese Army.

This is all abunch of fiddlefaddle.

BK

I agree, scandalous that liberals would violate Republican patents so shamelessly!  It must be a conspiracy, liberals getting mean!    Next thing you know, we'll have a big, fat, sarcastic radio-host who is disregarding of fairness and facts.  Is Michael Moore available to be the anti-Limbaugh?    

All I could say is, if it doesn't feel good receiving it, try some vaseline.  

... guess he found out.  I hope there is no investigation that leaks to the press.  Regardless of what I think of the current admin, I don't like to see gay people outed that way for any reason.